Let It Hurt
by Profiling1428
Summary: Nick Stokes loses his best friend/lover. Lyrics by Rascal Flatts.


7:42 in the morning, 8 seconds before it all sinks in. Nick Stokes has to say goodbye to his best friend, his lover, and partner. The day of your death and the day of your funeral, he has to put on his best face for the world. Fake another smile and just pretend like he hasn't just lost his entire world. He's just putting off the pain. Nothing's ever really gonna change. So let it hurt, let it bleed. Let it take him right down to his knees. Let it burn to the worst degree may not be what he wants but it's what he needs. Sometimes the only way around it is to let love do it's work. Let it hurt. Yeah, let it hurt.

He can still remember the look in (y/e/c) eyes as you took your last breath. Remembering you cold hands grip his as you laid in his embrace. Only a matter of time given by the beats of your heart giving up. At 3:28 in the morning, Nick is at the lab and he's counting up the spaces between the rain. He's already falling apart because you're not bounding through the door to the area he's working at to give him any news about some case. He won't be able to kiss you anymore or to make love to you. He won't be able to feel or hear you heart beat next to him as he slowly falls asleep taking in your peaceful form.

He's getting used to the rocks at the bottom of his glass. His heart goes numb just thinking about you. But the lonely stays the same. That's the price you're bound to pay for working as a crime scene investigator. And there's nothing no one can say to Nick or anyone else. Oh, there's only just one way. So let it hurt, let it bleed. Let it take them right down to their knees. So let it burn to the worst degree may not be what they want but it's what they need. Sometimes the only way around it is to let love do it's work. So go on. Yeah, let it hurt.

Nick might just find that he's better for it when he lets it go and learns to let it hurt and to let it bleed. Let it take him right down to his knees. Oh... Sometimes the only way around it is to let love do it's work. So go on and let it hurt. Oh, let it hurt. 7:42 in the morning, 8 seconds before it all sinks in. The day of your funeral, he is dressed in his best suit. As Nick got in his car and started driving to the church, he looks over and he could see you sitting in the passenger seat wearing whatever outfit you would have picked for the day with the biggest smile on your face. God how much he misses you, your smile, and everything about you. Nick just sadly smiles to himself when the memory of you bloody and cold gasping for air in his arms.

*_Flashback_*

_It was just like any other cases while working at the crime lab. Grissom told (Y/n) to go to the crime scene and work the scene. She went alone and 30 minutes later everyone was called out o the same location she went. I was the first one to arrive and I saw her lying on the ground covered in her own blood. She'd been shot and stabbed but she lost a lot of blood. I applied as much pressure to her wounds as I could but kept losing more blood. I held her in my arms. Her body cold and her breathing became labored. It was only a matter of minutes before she died. I asked her to marry me and she said yes. While her last and dying breath she kissed me for the last time. Her heart stopped, her breathing stopped, and her body goes limp. We caught the guy and he is going to get life._

_*End of Flashback*_

Now it's time to start her funeral. Grissom, Sara, Catherine, Greg, Hodge, Brass, and Nick all sit in the front row. Some of her friends are there along with other members of the crime lab.

The pastor prayed and asked for Nick to give the Eulogy. Grissom gave Warrick's Eulogy and now Nick had to give (Y/n)'s. He got up and looked at the casket that she laid in and walked up to the front. He stared at the sad and broken faces of his family.

"As crime scene investigators, we meet people on the worst day of their lives. They've just lost a family member. Somebody they loved. Often, in a horrible way. A piece of their heart is gone and will never be replaced. The phrase we're trained to offer, 'I'm sorry for your loss', as we know now doesn't offer much. I was fortunate to know and work with (Y/n). She was passionate and she fought or what she believed was right. I was with her the day she died. Earlier that day I had planned on asking her to marry me at her favorite restaurant. Nobody knew how the day was going to turn out and as she laid dying in my arms I asked her to become my wife. She said yes," Nick stopped and looked at the faces of everyone gathered and turned to look at the casket once more.

"I had the privilege to know (Y/n). Her spunk, her passions, everything about her. I knew I was done for when Grissom paired us to work together. Man I fell hard for her. She was brave, courageous, strong-willed, stubborn at times, she was caring, compassionate, had a great heart, stood up for everything she believed in, and never gave up. Today we mourn the loss of a family member, a friend, a colleague, a partner, and for me a lover, my better half. Everything that defined (Y/n)'s character was with her on the day she left us. As we say goodbye to her today we will remember all the memories we made with her. I can probably speak for everyone in this room. The team will miss her so much. I will miss her terribly."

The drive to the cemetery was hard. Once there, the graveside service was held. As she was laid to rest her final resting spot, everyone left except the team. Nick knelt down between the opening of her grave and Warrick's headstone. Tears streamed down his face for the first time since her death. "Take care of my girl now buddy."


End file.
